Big environmental costs equal big money for some

William Svec, a biologist with the city of San Diego Transportation and Stormwater Department, left, records information while intern Sean Mulderig, right, takes water samples from a storm drain system channeled creek along Murphy Canyon Road. / photo by Howard Lipin * U-T

William Svec, a biologist with the city of San Diego Transportation and Stormwater Department, left, records information while intern Sean Mulderig, right, takes water samples from a storm drain system channeled creek along Murphy Canyon Road. / photo by Howard Lipin * U-T

In a market economy, one person’s problem is often another’s opportunity.

So it goes with the state’s new environmental rules designed to keep rainwater and irrigation spray from carrying pollution down the streets and into our waterways. Scrubbing a landscape as vast as San Diego County is a big problem that requires some big, innovative solutions. There is money to be spent — and made.

Given public support for clean water and California’s history as a trendsetter, the spread of ever-tougher regulations seems certain to pick up steam. From roofers and landscapers to engineering, public relations and legal firms, entire industries will get a slice.

Three local inventors saw this coming. On a ski trip seven years ago, Stewart McClure and Joe Arthur listened to their buddy, civil engineer Ivan Fox, describe his difficulty finding reliable systems at reasonable cost to clean rainwater coming from new developments.

“We literally started drawing designs on a Santa Claus napkin,” McClure said from his modest Vista office.

Today McClure and Arthur’s company, Clearwater Systems Inc., sells a stainless steel device that fits into storm drains under city streets and removes chemicals, silt and trash from runoff. One chamber safely kills 95-99 percent of bacteria in the water. Sales have built steadily for the last three years, and now seem poised for liftoff.

Last week, the company received a key certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that’s been in the works since 2007. Workers recently installed 11 units at Lindbergh Field’s new terminal. About 250 units are scrubbing the San Luis Rey watershed in Temecula and Murrieta.

The unit’s sticker price is about $3,750. A major street has a storm drain every quarter mile. Local officials from Los Angeles to Rochester, N.Y., are evaluating the company’s products.

Every one of these devices require cleaning and maintenance during the rainy season. So do the massive, custom systems made by other companies that clean runoff from neighborhoods and parking lots.

Scrubbing rainwater will be big business.

The state’s new regulations are, to put it mildly, extremely ambitious. Some experts say it’s not technically possible to meet the new standards, which require San Diego County to eventually cut the amount of dirt, chemicals and animal bacteria in runoff to levels thought to exist before Columbus sailed.

Previous regulations focused on businesses, particularly builders. That’s why new developments are surrounded by straw wattles, plastic silt fences, trenches and other measures to keep water and dust from escaping the job site.

This time around, regulators put the onus on local governments. The approach makes sense: If you look ahead, maybe 5 percent of runoff will attempt to trickle into creeks from new construction, while 95 percent of the urban landscape was built years before anybody thought that rainwater was a problem.

Local officials estimate they might spend $5 billion over 18 years. The “they” in government means us.

In addition to testing, engineering and infrastructure spending, cities will spend millions trying to persuade the public to change all kinds of behaviors. Companies and individuals will surely spend many billions more.